New NXT Champion Crowned At Heatwave - Top TNA Star Teased

Say his name and he appears...

by Andrew Pollard
NXT Heatwave 2024 Ethan Page
WWE

With NXT Heatwave now in the books, Ethan Page is your new NXT Champion.

All Ego emerged victorious at Toronto's Scotiabank Arena last night, pinning Je'Von Evans to dethrone Trick Williams as the NXT Champion. That said, Page didn't exactly know much about this win at the time, with him knocked out by a Tricky Willy knee, causing the Canadian to fall on Evans to get the 1-2-3 at the same time Shawn Spears had pulled Trick out of the ring in this four-way bout.

While Ethan Page as the NXT Champion is one major story to come out of NXT Heatwave, one other was an uber-brief appearance from TNA's Joe Hendy.

As Heatwave went off the air with Page celebrating his victory, there was a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment where Hendry's face flashed up on the screen.

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Where Joe Hendy is concerned, Fightful Select reports there are plans to use the hugely charismatic Scotsman "heavily" in the future as part of the NXT and TNA crossover. WWE is said to be keen on Hendry's ability to go viral, and, when asked whether there'd be WWE interest in Joe once his TNA deal is up, one WWE source told Fightful "who wouldn't?".

For those wondering, Joe Hendy wasn't in Toronto for Heatwave, with the TNA favourite in Scotland to compete for Community Pro Wrestling over the weekend - where Hendy became the new CPW Champion.

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Elsewhere at Heatwave, Roxanne Perez retained the NXT Women's Championship against Lola Vice, NXT Tag Team Champions Axiom and Nathan Frazer kept hold of their gold against Chase U's Andre Chase and Duke Hudson, NXT Women's North American Champion Kelani Jordan managed to get the better of Sol Ruca, and Wes Lee came up short against NXT North American Champion Oba Femi in a heavy-hitting, frenetic show-opening contest.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.